2:Emeralds Are Forever
by Pip the Bat
Summary: Pip's back, and it's not just Sonic who's in danger this time, but his whole family ...


Emeralds Are Forever
    
    by Pip the Bat
    
     
    
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    
    Sonic, Tails and related characters are copyright to Sega
    
    and Archie Comics. Pip [Mecha Bot VI] is copyright to me,
    
    Pip the Bat. Serena is copyright to NetRaptor. Used with
    
    permission. Spark is copyright to Ace Castle. He is not
    
    used with permission but I've been told that Ace Castle
    
    doesn't mind anyone using his character as long as they
    
    don't kill him off, which I haven't].
    
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    
     
    
    The sun beat down, prophesizing yet another luxurious 
    
    Summer's day. In a clearing in the forest way below, lay 
    
    Sonic and Serena Hedgehog, taking an early nap.
    
    Serena yawned and stretched, glancing down at her 
    
    wrist watch. Another hour left until lunch still, and it 
    
    was a warm day... She made up her mind. She would walk down 
    
    to the stream and get a drink from there. It was more fun 
    
    that way, anyway.
    
    She got to her feet, careful not to wake Sonic, and 
    
    began the roundabout half-mile walk to the stream. She had 
    
    the vague feeling that somebody was watching her all the 
    
    way along, but whenever she glanced cautiously around, there 
    
    was definitely not a sole in sight. When she reached the 
    
    stream, she dropped to her knees and cupped her hands into 
    
    the water.
    
    As she was bending down, a sudden pressure came down 
    
    onto her neck, plunging her head under the water. She 
    
    tried to call out, but her mouth just filled with water, and 
    
    struggling was useless as another weight was being applied 
    
    to her back, preventing her from moving at all. Just as 
    
    she thought she was about to pass out from lack of air, 
    
    the pressure from her neck was removed, and yanked her head 
    
    out quickly, taking in a deep gasp of air.
    
    But as soon as she had done so, the pressure came 
    
    again, forcing her head back into the water. Like the time 
    
    before, she was let up just in time to stop her from drowning.
    
    "Cut it out, you bully," she spluttered, furiously. The 
    
    pressure on her neck, thankfully, was not reapplied. Instead, 
    
    a voice answered her.
    
    "Why, exactly? I'm having fun."
    
    She recognised the voice almost immediately. It was 
    
    Pip, Mecha bot VI, who had left Knothole about two months 
    
    ago after she had attempted to kill Sonic. Sonic and the 
    
    others, when they had discussed it at the time, had thought 
    
    that Pip had decided to become their enemy. She hadn't been 
    
    totally sure at the time. She was now.
    
    The pressure on her back was removed also, and she 
    
    rolled over to face Pip, who was grinning broadly.
    
    "Drowning people is your idea of fun?" she snapped, 
    
    glaring back at her.
    
    "Well, I've never drowned anybody, so how should I 
    
    know? And I don't want to drown you either. I need your help."
    
    Serena looked confused. "Why did you attack me then?"
    
    "Just to show you what might happen if you don't come 
    
    with me. All you need to do is go to jail, don't pass go, 
    
    don't collect two hundred coins."
    
    "What?"
    
    "Basically, I'm going to kidnap you. So then Sonic will 
    
    come looking for you. And even if he doesn't, it won't matter, 
    
    because I've still got you as a hostage. You see, I want to do 
    
    a little trading for that belt of Sonic's, emeralds included."
    
    Serena opened her mouth to say something all through 
    
    this, but at the end she just said: "Why? It wouldn't be any 
    
    use to you as you are. You know what it did to R.K."
    
    "Hey, give me credit for some brains. I don't want to 
    
    use the thing. I just know that without it, Knothole will be 
    
    less able to defend itself. Then I can put my... Master Plan 
    
    into operation. I would think of a better name for it, but I 
    
    might give it away and then I'd ruin the surprise, wouldn't I?"
    
    Serena didn't reply, but she got to her feet and 
    
    sprinted away from the robot in one swift move. She hadn't 
    
    got very far however, before something smashed into her back, 
    
    knocking her to the ground.
    
    "I hate to tell you this," came Pip's voice. "But 
    
    you're going the wrong way."
    
     
    
    ***
    
     
    
    Sonic had woken up and discovered the absence of his 
    
    sister. This normally wouldn't have worried him, but the 
    
    patch of grass next to him wasn't even slightly flattened 
    
    any more. Still, she'd probably got bored and wandered off 
    
    back to Knothole or some way into the forest. He got to his 
    
    feet and jogged back to Knothole.
    
     
    
    ***
    
     
    
    It was the next morning, and Serena still hadn't made 
    
    an appearance. Sonic was quite badly worried by then, but 
    
    he hadn't told Slasher or anybody because she might have 
    
    just got back late and gone for an early walk, or any number 
    
    of other things. And there hadn't been any sightings of the 
    
    robots or enemies of Knothole recently, which leant another 
    
    point in favour of the harmless explanations.
    
    He couldn't help worrying though. He kept wandering 
    
    restlessly over to the outskirts of Knothole, hoping to 
    
    see Serena returning. As the day wore on however, he began 
    
    to wonder if he ought to tell Slasher after all. It had 
    
    reached midday when he glanced into the forest once more. 
    
    This time he saw someone, though not his sister. Although 
    
    he had only glimpsed the figure for a moment, he could have 
    
    sworn it was Pip.
    
    He quickly ran over to where he thought he'd seen 
    
    her. Sure enough, some way off was Pip, hurrying deeper 
    
    into the forest. Not stopping to think, he followed her 
    
    carefully at a distance, keeping her in sight but not 
    
    getting close enough for her to spot him.
    
    They had gone on like this for a while and had reached 
    
    a little glade when Pip turned round and looked him straight 
    
    in the eye. "You're not too bad at follow the leader, are 
    
    you Sonic?" she said, tilting her head to one side.
    
    Sonic realised with a jolt of surprise that she 
    
    must have known that he was following her the whole time, 
    
    probably even planned it that way. "You were taking too 
    
    long to come after your sister, so I thought I'd better 
    
    encourage you a little," she added.
    
    "What have you done to Serena?" Sonic snapped, eyes 
    
    blazing, taking a stance that would mean he could break 
    
    into a run at any second. He'd been in a fight with the 
    
    robot before, and although it had lasted a mere few seconds, 
    
    he had sustained several painful injuries in the process, a 
    
    very slight limp in one leg still gave credit to that.
    
    "Nothing whatsoever. Much," she added, grinning 
    
    wickedly. "And if you want it to stay that way, I'd 
    
    suggest coming with me."
    
    "It won't do her any good if I come or just run off 
    
    and try to find her."
    
    "Well, one way she'll die and the other she'll live. 
    
    But of course, it's your choice. I'll just mention to her 
    
    that her dear brother just couldn't be bothered to give up 
    
    his freedom in exchange for her life..."
    
    "All right, all right," said Sonic testily, still 
    
    poised to run. "What do you want?"
    
    "Have you got your emerald belt with you? And if you 
    
    have and are thinking of using it, I wouldn't advise it. 
    
    You won't find your sister at all if you do, and as we 
    
    all know, that'd be a great pity, wouldn't it?" She 
    
    smirked at him.
    
    "No, I haven't got it," said Sonic, wishing he'd 
    
    been wearing it when he'd had the impulse to chase after 
    
    her. "I could go back to Knothole and get it if you like."
    
    "I'm not stupid Sonic. If you go back to Knothole 
    
    you'll return with Slasher and half the village. I've got 
    
    a strange aversion to great big dinosaurs who don't share 
    
    my views charging at me at several hundred miles per hour. 
    
    Which as we all know, means..."
    
    "I know, I know, Serena gets it. Well what do you 
    
    want me to do then? Make it suddenly appear in my hand 
    
    or merely give it a whistle to bring it to heel?"
    
    "Neither, which reminds me. The whistle, if you 
    
    please."
    
    With great reluctance, Sonic handed over the 
    
    whistle which he usually wore about his neck, which 
    
    would emit a high pitch sound when blown, alerting 
    
    Slasher, wherever she was, to the fact that he needed 
    
    her assistance.
    
    "Now, since you don't have the belt, I suppose 
    
    I'll just have to keep you along with Serena and offer 
    
    you both in exchange for the belt."
    
    "What good is the belt to you, anyway?" asked 
    
    Sonic, grudgingly allowing Pip to firmly grip his 
    
    arm and lead him into another part of the forest.
    
    "Not a lot. The thing is that it's good to you, 
    
    and I don't want a lot of useful things on your side 
    
    while I'm putting my major Master Plan into action."
    
    "Which is...?" prompted Sonic, hoping that if she 
    
    told him and he and Serena managed to escape, they would 
    
    at least be forewarned against whatever it was.
    
    "I won't tell you the whole plan," said Pip, giving 
    
    him the creepy feeling that she'd just read his mind. "But 
    
    let's just say that it involves the emeralds."
    
    "The emeralds? But they're in Sapphire City."
    
    "Were. I've got them now."
    
    "Did you--" began Sonic, but Pip interrupted him.
    
    "Did I hurt anyone? No. Oh, wait, I think I broke 
    
    someone's arm. Oh, and someone else sprained their ankle, 
    
    but that was indirect as they were running away."
    
    "And what are you going to do with the emeralds? 
    
    They badly affect all machinery, so they'd be no good to 
    
    you either."
    
    "The idea is, that I get myself used to the 
    
    emeralds' affects, starting small and ending with the 
    
    whole bunch."
    
    "But that isn't how it works..." Sonic said, 
    
    hopefully.
    
    "I hate to correct you, but I've been trying it, 
    
    and it is successful. Little pieces of emerald at a time 
    
    and then progressing, you see."
    
    "Little pieces? What did you do to them?"
    
    "Honey, I Broke the Emeralds," drawled Pip. "But 
    
    I heard somewhere that they'll merge back together again 
    
    when joined."
    
    "And if they don't?"
    
    "There's always superglue," said Pip, her grin 
    
    increasing.
    
    Sonic couldn't think of anything else to say, so 
    
    they walked on in silence, Sonic in some discomfort; 
    
    Pip's grip on his arm was very firm indeed. Still, he 
    
    couldn't help thinking that whatever the Master Plan 
    
    was, he didn't really want to know it.
    
     
    
    ***
    
     
    
    They reached another clearing after only a few 
    
    minutes and Sonic saw Serena, tied up and dozing by a 
    
    tree. The temptation to break free and try and run off 
    
    with Serena was very strong, but then again, so was Pip's 
    
    hold on his arm, and he couldn't move.
    
    The robot whipped out a length of rope and quickly 
    
    bound him up like Serena, shoving him roughly over 
    
    towards her. Since his legs were tied up, he fell and 
    
    landed hard on his face next to her.
    
    "Wupsie, better be more careful next time," Pip 
    
    told him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." 
    
    She strode off at a brisk pace into the forest.
    
    Almost immediately, Serena came to life, managing 
    
    to give Sonic a quick half smile. "Are you okay?" Sonic 
    
    asked, manoeuvring himself into a slightly more comfortable 
    
    position next to his sister. "Did she hurt you?"
    
    "No, apart from the fact she's forgotten that 
    
    normal creatures need food to survive, I'm fine. How 
    
    about you?"
    
    "Fine too, save the fact I think I've lost the 
    
    circulation in one arm. Do you know anything about what 
    
    she's up to? All she told me was that it evolved the Chaos 
    
    Emeralds."
    
    "I worked that one out a long time ago. When I was 
    
    first left here, she kept shooting past, smoke pouring 
    
    out and everything, towards the stream. Then sometime 
    
    in the middle of the night, she came up to me and proudly 
    
    showed me that she could hold a whole emerald quarter." 
    
    She rolled her eyes.
    
    They were both startled when a voice from behind 
    
    them said: "Well, if she was proud then, imagine how she 
    
    is now." They turned round as much as they could, the 
    
    ropes painfully cutting into their flesh. Pip was standing 
    
    there, the blue emerald in her hand, evidently having just 
    
    teleported there. "Isn't this so fun? I think I like this 
    
    one best." She threw the emerald into the air, catching 
    
    it perfectly. "Definitely."
    
    "You didn't take long, did you?" said Sonic, glaring 
    
    at her, angry that she'd been listening to their conversation.
    
    "Nope. I can use just about all the emeralds at 
    
    once now. I suppose I should send your pals at Knothole 
    
    a note asking for the Emerald Belt in exchange for your 
    
    safe return. And since I might not be very popular there, 
    
    I think I'll just have it dropped in on them." She held 
    
    out one arm. "Sharpeye!" she yelled loudly.
    
    There was a flap of feathers and a small shape 
    
    dropped from one of the trees and landed on her 
    
    outstretched arm. Sonic saw that it was a hawk, one 
    
    of the few non-talking dumb creatures that still existed 
    
    on Mobius.
    
    "Now take this to the village I showed you 
    
    earlier. Don't actually land, just circle over one of 
    
    the people there and drop it on them. Preferably the 
    
    squirrel or the velociraptor. Then, don't fly straight 
    
    back here. Just meander off somewhere. Now, did you get 
    
    all of that?" The bird gave a slight nod and took off, 
    
    the piece of paper Pip had handed it clamped in its beak.
    
    "There we go," said Pip, cheerfully. "Sharpeye 
    
    just lives in the area and is nice enough to do me 
    
    one or two favours every so often. In return for 
    
    wiping out his enemies. Anyway, I asked them in the 
    
    letter to leave the belt at a certain place with no 
    
    tricks otherwise they'd never see you alive again. 
    
    I think that just about covers it, don't you?"
    
    "So what have you been doing since you left 
    
    Knothole?" asked Serena, hoping that Pip would let 
    
    something of her plan slip. "Tails said you'd mentioned 
    
    finding the other Mecha bots."
    
    "I haven't quite got around to it yet. Once I've 
    
    got this out of the way, I will do though. You know 
    
    what?" she added, her voice filling with unconcealed 
    
    contempt. "I heard that at least one of them works 
    
    for Robotnik. I mean, how sad and desperate is that?"
    
    "You don't like Robotnik then?"
    
    "Like him?" Pip sounded horrified. "Don't you 
    
    know what he did?"
    
    "And which particular thing out of millions would 
    
    we be talking about here?" asked Sonic, in a sarcastic 
    
    tone of voice.
    
    "About what he did to the bats, of course." Both 
    
    Sonic and Serena shook their heads. "Well, someone 
    
    betrayed a group of bats to him, and he captured 
    
    them. Being totally brainless, he didn't actually 
    
    know how bats find their way in the dark and everything, 
    
    so just to see if it was true, he blindfolded the lot 
    
    of them and sent then to walk through a big complex 
    
    place, from start to finish. They all did it in record 
    
    time of course, and he was impressed.
    
    "But he still didn't know why it was. He thought 
    
    they might just have pretty amazing eyesight or 
    
    something so he..." She paused for a second before 
    
    continuing, disgust emanating from every syllable. 
    
    "He took out their eyes." Serena felt her stomach 
    
    lurch and a wave of nausea swept over her. "He sent 
    
    them through another complex and they still got to 
    
    the end, just as quick as before, so he decided to 
    
    find out if it was something else. What he did was 
    
    cut them open to see if he could find out." Serena 
    
    had closed her eyes at this point, and Sonic looked 
    
    as if he was about to throw up.
    
    "Terrible, isn't it? Of course, if I ever find 
    
    out who betrayed them, they are going to find 
    
    themselves hung, drawn and quartered plus just about 
    
    everything else I can think of on the spur of the 
    
    moment or with pre-planned malicious thinking."
    
    "What about Robotnik?" Sonic asked, recovering 
    
    slightly.
    
    "Well, I thought you guys were dealing with him," 
    
    said Pip, matter-of-factly. "Not to say he wouldn't 
    
    be in big trouble if I ever did meet up with him, of course."
    
    "Oh." When Sonic looked up again, Pip had gone 
    
    again. He put an arm round Serena who was looking very 
    
    ill. Later, at nightfall, he finally dozed off to 
    
    sleep, only to dream of hollow eyed bats flying in 
    
    great never ending circles above his head, being 
    
    commanded by another, robot bat; Pip. When he woke up, 
    
    sweating with fright, it was to see a green and black 
    
    furry face close to his own.He almost yelled out, 
    
    before he realised it was his brother, Spark.
    
    A crop of the black hair covered part of his face 
    
    as well as a red band around his head, containing the 
    
    eighth chaos emerald. Straightening up, he saw the 
    
    rest of his reassuring familiarity; the belt strap 
    
    holding Spark's knife, the metal arm, the yellow and 
    
    purple trainers.
    
    "Spark?" he whispered, still a little drowsy. 
    
    "What are you doing here?"
    
    "There was this bird who flew over and dropped 
    
    a scrap of paper with a ransom note on it right on my 
    
    head. I figured it might go back to wherever it came 
    
    from, so I set off after it. It flew around for a bit 
    
    then settled down on a tree. I thought it must have 
    
    been told just to deliver the message and go and was 
    
    about to leave when it flew off again. I followed once 
    
    more and here I am. Now, I suppose I'd better get you 
    
    out of those ropes." He brandished his knife and cut 
    
    through the ropes securing Sonic before moving over 
    
    and cutting Serena's, who had just started to wake up.
    
    "Who tied you up, anyway?" asked Spark, as he 
    
    cut the last of Serena's binding cords. "It didn't 
    
    say on the paper."
    
    "It was Pip. She's here and she says she's got 
    
    a plan of some kind. Let's just hope that by rescuing 
    
    us you might have ruined the whole thing."
    
    "I think she said that it didn't really matter 
    
    whether or not it worked," said Serena, looking a 
    
    little worried. "Pip has definitely thought the 
    
    whole thing out."
    
    "Pip a des sentiments violente. Not to 
    
    mention extremely annoyed. That's my plan you're 
    
    spoiling, you know." Pip was standing a few feet 
    
    away, her icy blue eyes glittering. All three 
    
    hedgehogs took fighting poses, hoping that they 
    
    might win through strength in numbers. "Still," 
    
    Pip continued. "You haven't ruined my Master Plan 
    
    which I am now going to put into action. Good day." 
    
    She pivoted round on one foot and walked in the 
    
    opposite direction from them.
    
    Sonic, who had been expecting a fight, stared 
    
    in confusement. "Should we follow her?" he asked.
    
    "Of course. The plan is probably gonna effect 
    
    us all anyway, so its best to face it rather than 
    
    go back to Knothole," replied Spark, while Serena, 
    
    impatient to go, had already started off.
    
    They ran through the woodland in the direction 
    
    that Pip had taken. After a few moments, they came 
    
    out into another clearing that they had never seen 
    
    before, and in the centre was a huge pedestal, which 
    
    reminded Sonic strongly of the one in the Master 
    
    Emerald Chamber on the Floating Island. Except the 
    
    one there hadn't got creepers and ivy growing over it.
    
    On the pedestal there were seven grooves, six 
    
    of which were filled with six of the emeralds. Pip 
    
    was there, about to drop the last emerald, the blue 
    
    one, into the final hole. Sonic and Spark started 
    
    towards her, closely followed by Serena.
    
    Pip turned round, casually holding the blue 
    
    emerald still. "You don't give up, do you?" she said, 
    
    and dropped the blue emerald into the hole. There was
    
    a pause then a great flash of blinding white light 
    
    came from the emeralds, the hedgehogs only just 
    
    managing to shield their eyes in time. Flames had 
    
    burst out from the pedestal and now surrounded them, 
    
    cutting them off from both Pip and escaping.
    
    Sonic glanced over to where Pip was, tearing 
    
    his gaze from the inferno around him. She was standing 
    
    in a ring of flame, something shimmery and see 
    
    through clasped in her hand. "I have it!" she called 
    
    triumphantly, holding the object aloft. Seeing Sonic 
    
    looking at her, she grinned.
    
    "Ever heard of the Gemstones, Sonic? The three 
    
    orbs which together hold more power than the chaos 
    
    emeralds? This," she said, holding out her hand so 
    
    that Sonic could see what saw in it; a miniature 
    
    translucent light blue orb. "Is the Gemstone of Hope. 
    
    It has one or two powers of it's own which should 
    
    be fun kicking around with. Of course, I don't hope
    
    to get all the Gemstones, that would be truly 
    
    impossible, but to have one should be a great lucky 
    
    charm."
    
    So saying, she held it up in the air. "Tell 
    
    me what it's like to be deep fried hedgehog. Adios, 
    
    amigos." She glowed white for a moment, then vanished.
    
    Sonic put all thoughts of the Gemstone and 
    
    Pip out of his mind, as dangerous combination as 
    
    the two might be, and tried to concentrate on how 
    
    they were going to get out of their current situation. 
    
    He couldn't really see how. Fire on every side, coming 
    
    closer to them...
    
    He, Spark and Serena backed towards the middle 
    
    of unburnt ground. Sonic felt a hand slip into his 
    
    own and he glanced round to see Serena, looking 
    
    worried but not quite panicking yet.
    
    Spark, who had been looking at the flames 
    
    closely for some time, suddenly let out an exclamation 
    
    and moved towards the flames. Sonic was about to ask 
    
    what he was doing, when Spark put his hands right 
    
    through the flames. Sonic stared in horrified surprise. 
    
    What was his brother doing? But then he noticed what 
    
    Spark had; the flames didn't burn. Looking down at 
    
    the ground, he saw that that wasn't burning either. 
    
    The flames were just... there.
    
    Serena next to him gave a sigh of relief. They 
    
    were safe.
    
     
    
    ***
    
     
    
    Tails looked at Sonic. "So... Pip's our enemy now?"
    
    "Sure looks like it, little buddy. It's just lucky 
    
    that those flames weren't real, otherwise we'd have been 
    
    toast. I suppose Pip didn't realise they weren't either. 
    
    If she had done we really would have been in trouble."
    
    "But she might have done and just not wanted to 
    
    hurt you."
    
    "I doubt it."
    
    Sighing slightly, Tails leapt off the log. "Guess 
    
    you're right. I've gotta go and fix some 'plane parts 
    
    now. See ya later."
    
    Sonic watched him out of sight before getting 
    
    up and going to find Serena. "Life goes on," he murmured.
    
     
    
    The End (for now)


End file.
